Query

[505b0c51]

Hi 

My name is Phumlani, country South Africa. I am new to the freelancing field. Is it legit to pay an upfront fee before taking the project with the client? I have received two projects requesting that I pay the fee to take the project.

Please help me with this.

[9bc15fce]

You may not do this as most of them would come out as scam and evaluation of difference is quite difficult. So, in my opinion, better safe than sorry. And yes, good luck with your search.

Thank you and hope I was a little helpful if not much.

[c34662a2]

I've never asked a freelancer on Upwork to pay ME for the privilege of working on my project.

[0ea796be]

Legitimate clients don't ask freelancers to pay them. This is a scam. It's also a ToS violation to move off Upwork without a contract in place. You can avoid these scams by staying on the platform. 

[759e32fa]

**Edited to add information**

Hi Phumlani,

Thank you for reaching out to us. As others have mentioned, this is a scam as clients will not ask you to pay fees in order to work for them and especially since it's against Upwork's ToS. You may want to read this and this to protect yourself from these schemes moving forward.

[pgiambalvo]

No it is a scam. Report them.

[422368c0]

This is a scam and all you have to do is report this person to the site to lock his account because clients do not ask freelancers to pay them up front for their work.